Download Conserving the Forest Interior

CONSERVING THE FOREST INTERIOR:
A THREATENED WILDLIFE HABITAT
Only 200 years ago forests stretched nearly
continuously across southern and eastern
Ontario. The uplands were shaded by trees of
all sizes, ages and successional stages.
Natural openings were rare, irregular breaks
in the leafy canopy. Today, the picture is
very different. Forests now cover only about
20 per cent of land — one in five hectares —
south and east of the Canadian Shield. This
ranges from a high of 30 per cent — one in
three hectares — in eastern Ontario, to a low
of about three per cent forest cover in
extreme southwestern Ontario. While we
strive to manage the remaining woodlands
sustainably, some wildlife populations
struggle to adjust to the loss and
fragmentation of forests.
Landowners are stewards of a great deal of
forest habitat in southern Ontario. But these
forests are broken into thousands of small
woodlands ringed by roads, highways, farms,
fields and rural and urban developments.
Small, fragmented forests still sustain wildlife
and produce wood fiber, but they often lack a
high-quality habitat called the forest interior.
The conservation values of this “deep woods”
habitat warrant a closer look for woodland
planning and management.
This Extension Note introduces you to the
forest interior and the wildlife species that
depend on this threatened habitat. It provides
ideas on how landowners, conservation
agencies and interested groups can protect
and improve forest interior conditions in the
fragmented forests of southern Ontario.
WHAT IS FOREST INTERIOR HABITAT?
The forest interior is habitat deep within woodlands. It is a
sheltered, secluded environment away from the influence of
forest edges and open habitats. Some people call it the “core” or
the “heart” of a woodland. The presence of forest interior is a
good sign of woodland health, and is directly related to the
woodland’s size and shape. Large woodlands with round or
square outlines have the greatest amount of forest interior. Small,
narrow woodlands may have no forest interior conditions at all.
Forest interior habitat is a remnant natural environment,
reminiscent of the extensive, continuous forests of the past.
This increasingly rare forest habitat is now a refuge for certain
forest-dependent wildlife; they simply must have it to survive
and thrive in a fragmented forest landscape.
HOW IS EDGE HABITAT DIFFERENT FROM FOREST INTERIOR HABITAT?
Woodland edges are sunnier, warmer, windier, drier and
experience more dramatic environmental changes than the
forest interior. Edge habitats are also more prone to disturbance
and support a larger variety and higher density of predators.
Wind and sun dry out forest edges, reducing the diversity and
abundance of insects and other invertebrates that are important
foods for wildlife that depend on forest interior habitat. Forest
pools near edges tend to dry up, eliminating vital water
sources for wildlife and habitat for aquatic insects, which are
2
INTERIOR HABITAT
critical food sources for many birds and amphibians. The
pools are also critical breeding habitat for amphibians such as
frogs, toads, and salamanders. “See-through” woodlands may
be made up entirely of edge habitats, where winds bring in air
pollution, diseases and seeds of non-native plant species.
Invasive plants such as garlic mustard and glossy buckthorn
may take over the forest floor of small fragmented woodlands.
Forest edges are also more exposed to blowdown, noise
pollution, motorized vehicles, vegetation clearing and
urban development.
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scarlet tanager
red bat
red squirrel
spring beauties
forest pool
aquatic insects
salamanders
ovenbird and nest
red trilliums
ferns
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CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
HOW DOES FOREST FRAGMENTATION AFFECT WILDLIFE?
Experts believe that formerly continuous forested landscapes
cannot sustain the natural diversity of plants and animals
unless at least 25 to 30 per cent of the land is in forest or other
natural cover. Fragmented woodlands — “islands of habitat,”
as they are called — may simply be too small for some
creatures, such as the fisher or red-shouldered hawk. Small
isolated wildlife populations often have fewer young per pair,
die at a younger age and have less genetic variability than
populations of the same species that are not isolated. Small
populations are also more likely to suffer declines due to
disease, insect outbreaks or periodic weather events. These
conditions create a recipe for long-term extinction.
Small forests support small numbers of wildlife. Some species
are “area-sensitive” and tend not to inhabit small woodlands,
regardless of forest interior conditions. Fragmented habitat
also isolates local populations, especially small mammals,
amphibians and reptiles with limited mobility. This reduces
the healthy mixing of genetic traits that helps populations
survive over the long run.
Bigger forests often provide a different type of habitat. Many
forest birds breed far more successfully in larger forests than
they do in smaller woodlots and some rely heavily on forest
interior conditions. Populations are often healthier in regions
with more forest cover and where forest fragments are
grouped closely together or connected by corridors of natural
habitat. The population size and number of young produced
by forest bird populations are among the best indicators of
forest interior conditions in a woodland. But as ecological
research continues, we learn more about wildlife of the forest
interior. Eastern red bats,
for example, prefer to
forage in forested areas
and roost high in the
foliage of large trees.
Biologists have recently
discovered that red bat
roost trees, on average, are
located almost 300 metres
from a forest edge.
Typical fragmented landscape.
EDGE HABITAT
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4 ha
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American robin
raccoon
glossy buckthorn
garlic mustard
brown-headed cowbird
domestic cat
WHY DO SOME FOREST BIRDS PREFER THE FOREST INTERIOR?
Each forest bird needs a particular type and arrangement of
food, water, shelter and suitable nesting sites. Birds like robins,
thrashers and cardinals find these habitat requirements at forest
edges. Birds of the forest interior seek a different environment.
They may actually avoid edges or have poor foraging and
nesting success at edges. They find more of their preferred food
(particularly insects on the ground and on foliage) deeper in the
woods, as well as increased moisture, less nest disruption and
fewer predators. These birds are better suited to larger forests in
part because of the diversity of microhabitats such as small
conifer stands, wet pockets of lowland hardwoods or rare
vegetation that are mixed in with common woodland habitats.
The variety contributes to greater species diversity and provides
a greater variety of potential foods.
Predators of birds and nests, such as raccoons, opossums,
common grackles, common crows, and grey squirrels, and
domestic and feral cats, all frequent the rural and suburban
environments around the forest edge. Biologists have found
that 8 out of 10 nests of neotropical migrant birds in small
woodlands (less than 100 hectares) may be lost to predators.
Many forest interior birds, such as the ovenbird and the
hooded warbler, are ground-nesters or nest in low shrubs,
making them especially susceptible to predators and
disturbance. Nests laid in the deep forest interior have far
lower, more “natural” predation rates.
Nests laid in the forest interior are also less susceptible to
brown-headed cowbirds, a brood parasite that lays its eggs in
other birds’ nests. Cowbirds look for active nests at the edge of
forests and in forest clearings. In most cases the host bird
actually raises the young cowbirds. Cowbirds grow more
quickly than the young of the host species, so nestlings of the
host bird may grow more slowly, die in the nest or may even be
bumped out of the nest. Three out of four nests of forest birds
in small woodlands may be “parasitized” in this way by
cowbirds. Cowbirds prefer edges and open areas and avoid
larger, mature woodlots where the upper branches of trees form
a closed canopy.
Simply put, life for forest birds is more dangerous at the edge.
A TYPICAL FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE
Forest interior conditions are extremely rare in the fragmented forest landscape of southern Ontario. This is the breakdown for two reasonably
wooded regions of southern Ontario.
Location
d Eastern Ontario: United Counties of Leeds & Grenville1
d Southwestern Ontario: Lake Erie shoreline north to
Woodstock and Six Nations Reserve2
Total area
d 359,429 ha
d 360,000 ha
Total forest cover
d 139,664 (39 per cent of the land)
d 68,282 ha (19 per cent of the land)
Number of woodlands
d 8,537 fragmented woodlands
d 11,064 fragmented woodlands
Woodlands greater than
100 ha (250 acres)
d 256 (3 per cent of woodlands were large)
d 98 (1 per cent of woodlands were large)
Woodlands less than
100 ha (250 acres)
d 8,281 (97 per cent of woodlands are small)
d 10,965 (99 per cent of woodlands are small)
Woodlands less than
3 ha (7 acres)
d 6,208 (73 per cent of woodlands are very small)
d 8,912 (80 per cent of woodlands are very small)
Average woodland size
d 16 ha (40 acres)
d Average woodland size 6 ha (15 acres)
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Eastern Ontario Model Forest
Pearce, C.M. 1993. Coping with Forest Fragmentation in Southwestern Ontario. In: Size and Integrity Standards for Natural Heritage Areas in Ontario. Proceedings of a Seminar.
Parks and Natural Heritage Policy Branch, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Hunstsville, Ontario.
CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
FOREST BIRDS IN DECLINE
Several forest bird species that need
large forest areas — and forest
interior conditions — have
been included on Canada’s
national list of species at
risk. These include the
Acadian flycatcher, the hooded warbler, the
cerulean warbler, the Louisiana waterthrush the
prothonotary warbler, and the red-shouldered hawk.
In recent years, biologists have also found declining
numbers of several quite common birds that nest in southern
Ontario forests. They include the veery, the rose-breasted
grosbeak, the wood thrush, the northern waterthrush, the
ovenbird and the Canada warbler. Some are seen only half as
often as they were 30 years ago. Loss of forest interior
habitat, habitat removal on migration routes and growing
threats on wintering grounds may all be involved. If left
unchecked, declines like these could put more birds on the
endangered species list.
Cerulean Warbler
EXAMPLES OF BIRDS OF THE INTERIOR AND OF THE EDGE —
HABITAT PREFERENCES OF SOME BIRDS OF FRAGMENTED FOREST LANDSCAPES IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO
BIRDS OF LARGE WOODLANDS
WITH FOREST INTERIOR
Barred Owl
Pileated Woodpecker*
Hairy Woodpecker*
Acadian Flycatcher*
Veery*
Hermit Thrush*
Swainson’s Thrush
Black and White Warbler*
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler*
Cerulean Warbler*
Blackburnian Warbler*
Mourning Warbler*
Canada Warbler*
Ovenbird*
Louisiana Waterthrush*
Northern Waterthrush*
Scarlet Tanager*
BIRDS OF LARGE WOODLANDS THAT
MAY ALSO NEST NEAR EDGE
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey
Red-shouldered Hawk
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Least Flycatcher*
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher*
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird*
Wood Thrush
Red-eyed Vireo
Northern Parula*
Rufous-sided Towhee
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
BIRDS OF SMALL WOODLANDS
OR EDGE HABITATS
Northern Bobwhite
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Mourning Dove
Red-headed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Kingbird
Blue Jay
American Crow
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
European Starling
House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Primary Source: Freemark, Kathryn. 1999. Area sensitivity and thresholds for birds in fragmented hardwood forests.
Canadian Wildlife Service, Hull Quebec. This is a review of over 30 studies in the NE US and Canada.
Asterisks (*) indicate birds that are known to decline significantly when forest habitat area is reduced.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY WOODLAND HAS FOREST INTERIOR?
Biologists may occasionally measure or pace into woodlands
to determine the amount of forest interior habitat but are more
likely to use satellite images and computer calculations.
Landowners can use simple measurements, maps or air photos
to search for forest interior themselves. Alternatively, the
presence and, especially, successful nesting of forest interior
species (listed in the table on the previous page) can indicate
that a forest provides important forest interior habitat.
Find your property on a map and then use pencil to outline the
edge of the entire woodland of interest. Estimate the amount of
forest interior by drawing a line 100 metres in from the
woodland edge or from any human-created opening such as a
field, road, railway line or hydro right-of-way. The scale
around the edge of the map will tell you how much 100 metres
is on your map. Ontario Base Maps, Forest Resource Inventory
maps and aerial photos, available through the Ministry of
Natural Resources, are most useful because they are usually
more recent than topographic maps. Most are at the same scale,
making 100 metres roughly 1 cm on the map or photo.
After drawing the lines from each edge, the area inside the
100 metre limit is your forest interior. Every 1 cm x 1 cm
square inside the 100 metre limit equals one hectare. If you
have 40–100 hectares or more, you (and your neighbours)
have a woodland with valuable forest habitat. You next step
could be to look for plants and animals of the forest interior.
100 m
WETERING
PROPERTY
MACKEY
PROPERTY
WARREN
PROPERTY
Forest
Interior
DOWNEY
PROPERTY
REID
PROPERTY
Outer
Woodland
Boundary
GOULDING
PROPERTY
Use an air photo to determine the amount of forest interior your woodland provides.
CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
HOW CAN I CONSERVE FOREST INTERIOR HABITAT?
1. HELP PROTECT THE
LARGEST WOODLANDS
Large forested areas that are greater
than 200 hectares have the most
interior habitat. These “megawoodlands” are very rare in southern
Ontario but are vital to the protection
and eventual recovery of threatened
forest wildlife. Large woodlands
support larger and more stable
populations of all forest wildlife, and
are your best bet for protecting typical
forest birds. Woodlands greater than
200 hectares are particularly valuable,
but woodlands in the 100 hectare
range may still harbour most of the
typical community of forest birds.
Larger woodlands have greater
ecological health and may have
greater growth rates and productivity
over the long term. This makes
sustainable forest management and
financial revenue from forest
products more realistic goals. Forest
management planning advice is also
obtained more cost-efficiently for
larger woodlands.
CHANGING IDEAS ABOUT “EDGE”
Landowners who have listened to messages from conservation agencies over the years may
find a focus on forest interior to be a break from the past. Even a decade ago, agencies and
landowners often sought the greatest amount of diversity through greater, artificially-created
edges. This was done with the best of intentions and with the best information available at the
time. But just as improved knowledge and scientific study have changed (for the better) how
we manage sustainably for timber and farm crops, so has greater understanding of ecology
changed traditional views on habitat enhancement.
The shift came slowly after long term bird-banding studies, countless hours of field
observation, satellite imagery, computer models, geographic information systems and the
cooperation of hundreds of landowners made it possible to see declining trends in forest bird
populations that are directly related to the loss of forests and forest interior.
FOREST BIRDS HELP FOREST TREES
Warblers, vireos, and other insect-eating birds consume vast
quantities of forest insects. There would be far more devastating
outbreaks of gypsy moth, forest tent caterpillar and other pests
without these birds in the forest. But even when foliage-eating
insects are at lower (non-outbreak) numbers, they can have
serious impacts on forest trees and tree growth.
Forest researchers in the southwestern U.S. covered white oak tree
seedlings with netting and left others open to the sky to compare
what happens to seedlings’ insect populations with and without the
feeding by birds. They found that plants had twice as many foliageeating insects when nets kept the birds away. They also found that
insects consumed 25 per cent of the total leaf area — equal to one
in four leaves — when they were free of bird predation. This is
twice the damage caused when birds were able to do their job of
eating insects.
Natural biological control is not limited to insects. Porcupines,
for example, can damage many species of hardwood and other
trees by feeding on bark and twigs. Their main natural predator,
the fisher, needs landscapes with larger tracts of forest. Without
this habitat (and without the fishers) porcupine feeding often
goes unchecked.
Black-throated Green Warbler
2. PROTECT WOODLANDS WITH FOREST INTERIOR IN
MUNICIPAL PLANS AND DEVELOPMENTS
Large forests with extensive forest interior and habitat for
threatened or endangered forest interior birds should receive
special consideration in planning documents and in
development proposals. Local input is often needed to raise
the profile of these significant habitats in the municipal
planning process. At the scale of the individual property,
buildings should be kept at a distance from woodlands.
Buffers should be maintained or created around small
woodlands, especially where they are adjacent to high-density
human habitation.
3. IDENTIFY FOREST INTERIOR IN WOODLAND
MANAGEMENT PLANS
Landowners can identify forest interior protection for wildlife
habitat as a property objective in forest and resource
management plans. These plans help you look ahead and
encourage you to think about how to improve your forest over
time. The plans may also make you eligible for tax breaks or
special management or assistance programs.
If you plan to cut your woodland, maintain an interiorprotecting buffer by reducing the harvesting of trees along the
edge, along riparian corridors or around forest pools (even
BUFFER PLANTINGS
Existing Small Remnant Forest
Interior
Edge
Extended Edge
Dense Shrub Thicket
Meadow
Planting and maintaining a 100 metre or wider border around small woodlands that support forest interior birds is a valuable landscaping technique
that limits access and provides some natural buffering. Consider a planting that provides a gradual transition from meadow to shrub-thicket to the
actual edge of the existing small forest. Alternatively, consider planting a border of dense conifer seedlings.
CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
FOREST GEOMETRY
50.4 ha
50.4 ha
50.4 ha
49.7 ha
28.3 ha
26.0 ha
8 ha
710 m
400.5 m
850 m
1680 m
710 m
A woodland’s shape affects the amount of forest interior it
contains, as shown here with an approximately 50 ha size
woodland. Woodlands may be quite large but lack forest
interior because of their linear shapes. Woodlands more like
circles or squares have the greatest amount of forest interior
proportional to their size and can have nearly double the
interior space of narrow, rectangular woodlots of similar
total area.
790 m
14.8 ha
300 m
those that dry up in the summer). Forest interior conditions
can be maintained through selection harvests when roads and
landings are minimized and non-permanent, and when
harvesting activities take place in the winter (non-breeding)
season. Simply not scheduling any harvesting activities in the
forest interior is also considered good management. Refer to
the Extension Notes Do You Have a Healthy Woodlot? for
help in planning woodland activities that help forest interior
and habitat conditions.
4. PROTECT OLD-GROWTH FORESTS OR MANAGE WOODLANDS
FOR OLD-GROWTH CONDITIONS
Forest interior conditions are common elements of old-growth
forests or forests that contain sections of large, old, mature
trees. You can adjust single-tree selection silviculture
prescriptions (that aim to optimize timber production) to
maintain old-growth forest interior habitat. This includes
leaving a higher basal area and a greater number of larger
diameter (greater than 50 cm DBH) trees than specified in
typical prescriptions. Maintaining surface water sources such
as springs, seeps and pools is also important. Refer to the
Extension Notes Restoring Old-Growth Forest Features to
Managed Forests in Southern Ontario and The Old-Growth
Forests of Southern Ontario for ideas.
5. WORK WITH NEIGHBOURS TO COLLECTIVELY MANAGE
AND PROTECT LARGE WOODLANDS
Properties boundaries are often the hidden cause of
fragmentation. Conflicting management objectives among
neighbours can reduce forest interior values in a number of
properties. Long-term cooperation and multi-property
planning are needed if landowners hope to increase the size
of, and connections between, fragmented forests or if they
wish to conserve habitat conditions in large woodlands. Look
at your land as just one part of the larger landscape. What
position does your property occupy? Does it have forest
interior habitat, old-growth, wetlands or connecting corridors
to habitat on neighboring properties? Ask yourself what you
and your neighbours can do together to benefit woodland
habitat. This could involve simply leaving things be —
southern Ontario has many fine examples of private
stewardship. Conservation agencies and groups encourage
this cooperative approach and welcome the participation of
interested landowners.
6. ENCOURAGE NATURAL SUCCESSION OR PLANT NATIVE
TREES IN FOREST CLEARINGS
You can greatly increase the amount of forest interior by
reforesting permanent fields within woodlands. The benefits
are most dramatic in large woodlands. For example, planting
trees in a one hectare field within a small woodland may only
create one hectare of forest interior. The same-sized field in a
large woodland may create 50 hectares of forest interior,
depending on the shape of the woodland.
You may not want to plant trees in small openings (less than
one hectare) because natural succession will likely restore the
forest for you. You can encourage natural regeneration and
germination of seeds around the forest edge by gradually
exposing mineral soil with passes of a cultivator over several
years. Refer to the Extension Note Management Options for
Abandoned Farm Fields for more information.
7. INCREASE THE SIZE OF WOODLANDS BY PLANTING NATIVE
TREES AROUND THE EDGE
Use annual planting projects to reduce edge and “round out”
your woodland. You can use fast-growing conifer plantations
as stepping stones to increased forest interior. If plantations
exist adjacent to natural forest, they can be managed to
increase species diversity and vertical structure. Refer to the
Extension Note Managing Regeneration in Conifer
Plantations to Restore a Mixed Hardwood Forest for
management approaches or a number of other Extension
Notes that provide information on preparing for, planting, and
protecting trees. Consider planting a few rows of conifer trees
around the edges, especially the southern and most exposed
edges of smaller woodlots with remnant forest interior habitat.
NATURAL FOREST GAPS
IN THE FOREST INTERIOR
When old towering trees die they create openings and edge
habitat in the forest interior. But the gaps are short-term. Many
plant species are ready for this event and grow rapidly upwards
into the available space. Some forest interior species, such as the
hooded warbler, actually prefer small natural gaps in the midst of,
and ringed by, a tall forest canopy.
Canopy gaps are created when small groups of trees die from old age or disease.
CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
RESTORING THE CORE
A large clearing within a woodlot drastically decreases the amount of interior habitat while increasing the amount of edge. These clearings differ
from natural canopy gaps in many ways (see sidebar on previous page). Planting trees in these openings has tremendous conservation benefits.
natural
succession
will likely
restore
these areas
priority area for
restoration
protected natural area
8. CONNECT THE WOODLOTS
You can create wildlife travel corridors and expand forested
areas by connecting existing woodlots, old fields, wetlands,
lakes and waterways with natural vegetation. If two woodlots
are close together, plant native trees between them to create
one larger forest. Plant natural vegetation along the edges of
lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, and riparian areas because these
natural features make the best wildlife corridors. You can
choose to enhance hedgerows and windbreaks as well because
they need to be more than a single line of trees to be a suitable
wildlife corridor.
9. ASK FOR HELP
Protection and restoration of large woodlands and woodlands
with forest interior are two of the most important things
landowners can do for wildlife in southern Ontario. But often
these projects are large, complicated and costly. Ask
conservation groups or government agencies for help to tie-in
to existing programs. Contact the Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources or the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs or your local Conservation Authority for
information on existing stewardship and tree planting
assistance programs.
CONSERVING
THE FOREST
INTERIOR
FURTHER READING
GLOSSARY
BIODIVERSITY
Also called biological diversity, this term refers to the variety of and variability
among living organisms and ecosystems. Biodiversity includes all the different
plants, animals and other species, but also how they are grouped together in
natural communities and how they interact with the physical environment.
CANOPY
The forest canopy is the layer of foliage formed by the crowns of older trees. It
shades the layers of vegetation below.
(WILDLIFE) CORRIDOR
Linear naturally-vegetated areas — ranging from hedgerows to river valleys —
that link or border natural areas in the countryside. Corridors provide passage for
animals and reproductive interchange between populations of plants and animals
in fragmented landscapes.
FOREST INTERIOR
Blocks of forest more than 100 metres inside a woodland. This is roughly three to
five tree-lengths away from a woodland edge, road, utility corridor or any large,
usually permanent, opening inside a woodland. The 100 metre distance is a
minimum because large openings cause changes to forest environments 300 metres
or more inside woodlands.
NEOTROPICAL MIGRANTS
Birds that breed here but migrate to Central and South America in winter.
NATURAL HERITAGE
Natural means to exist or be caused by nature, and heritage is a valuable thing worthy
of protection that we pass on to future generations. Natural heritage, therefore, refers to
all wild plants and animals and, especially, the natural places they inhabit because
habitat is the key to sustaining species — as a living heritage — over the long term.
VERTICAL STRUCTURE
Distinct layers of vegetation in forests. Beginning at the top and descending toward
the forest floor, the layers include the dominant trees of the canopy which shade
the understorey trees, saplings and shrubs. Cavity trees and supercanopy trees
add further diversity to this structure.
For more information contact:
LandOwner Resource Centre
P.O. Box 599, 5524 Dickinson Street
Manotick, Ontario K4M 1A5
Tel 613 692 2390 or 1 800 387 5304
Fax 613 692 2806
Product Ordering: 1-888-571-INFO (4636)
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: http://www.lrconline.com
Produced by:
• LandOwner Resource Centre
With support from:
• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
There are nearly a dozen Extension Notes to help
you in the tree planting projects suggested here. For
information contact the LandOwner Resource
Centre at 1-800-387-5304. The following
Extension Notes provide related information about
forest interior habitats:
•
•
•
•
•
Do You Have a Healthy Woodlot?
Restoring Old-Growth Features to Managed
Forests in Southern Ontario
The Old-Growth Forests of Southern Ontario
Managing Regeneration in Conifer Plantations
to Restore a Mixed Hardwood Forest
Management Options for Abandoned
Farm Fields
For additional information consider the
following publications:
• Bird Studies Canada/Long Point Bird
Observatory. 1998. Conserving Woodland Birds
in Southern Ontario. Bird Studies Canada. 16
pp. Fact sheet available by calling
1-888-448-2473 or www.bsc-eoc.org
• Lompart, C., J. Riley and J. Fieldhouse. 1997.
Woodlands for Nature: Managing your
woodland for wildlife and nature appreciation.
Federation of Ontario Naturalists, Don Mills,
Ont. 1-800-440-2366.
• Riley, J.L. and P. Mohr. 1994. The Natural
Heritage of Southern Ontario’s Settled
Landscapes. Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources Natural Heritage Information Centre,
P.O. Box 7000, 300 Water Street, Peterborough,
Ontario K9J 8M5 1-800-667-1940.
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2000, Queen’s Printer for Ontario
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